Kuria rejects referendum bids on Olympics, City Park – Update

Budapest, January 20 (MTI) – Hungary’s supreme court has rejected referendum questions on organising Olympic Games in Budapest and the upgrade of the Varosliget (City Park), overruling the Budapest Election Committee’s earlier approval.

The Budapest Election Committee approved both referendum questions on December 14 last year.

Concerning the rejection of the question of whether citizens agree that Budapest should not apply to host the Olympics in 2024, the Kuria said the capital had already submitted a declaration of intent to host the games to the International Olympic Committee. The deadline to submit the application is February 17, 2016, whereas the referendum would have taken place at a later date, the court noted.

The court said it rejected the question of whether construction regulations in City Park should not allow new museums to be built there because the project is set to go ahead in line with a law regulating the revamp and referendums cannot be held to overrule laws.

Commenting on the ruling, the opposition Egyutt party said that the Kuria made an unacceptable, political decision, which serves the interests of the ruling Fidesz party and denies citizens the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right of voting on important issues. The government has been working on disabling the referendum as a democratic institution for years, and the Kuria’s latest ruling is another step in that direction, Egyutt said.